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Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!! I hope everyone has some fun activities planned for the afternoon and evening.

My kids have already dressed up 3 times. They dressed up Wednesday for story time, yesterday morning for my daughter's "Traditional Halloween Party" at pre-school (they invited my son, how sweet, huh?), and last night we attended Boo on Ballard where we trick-or-treated in downtown Wylie. It has been Halloween central around here!

Wednesday night we carved pumpkins. Since it's so warm here in October, we have to be careful about carving them too early, or they rot too quick. Aren't our pumpkins cute?? I carved the castle from the Disney Pumpkin Stencils and my hubby carved his VERY FIRST pumpkin as well. It's the cute one on the very right. It was a Pumpkin Master's pattern. The kids helped hubby with the one in the middle! I've curious about the middle pumpkin....I wonder if I can "use" it later for pie filling. If not, I bought one more (the skin hasn't been punctured!). I may not like to cook, but I don't mind preparing pumpkin for pies. I'm weird I know!

I know I haven't posted a lot lately! The kids and I have been enjoying the season! I am also letting the groceries dwindle, because we'll be heading out of town soon. Yay!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Here in Texas we having "early voting". Thank goodness! It takes the pressure off making it to vote on one day with the long lines (yuck), etc. I'm not sure what states are participating, but to find an early voting location near you, click here.

Monday, October 27, 2008

They seem to be popping up everywhere! There is now one at Walgreens. :)

Sorry I don't give out these more often! I flaked out when I signed up for the text messages from Redbox and they go to my husbands cell phone. Opps! I've tried changing it to mine but still never get them.

My trips to Kroger seem to just get better and better! We were low on staples (milk, fruit, waffles, yogurt, etc.) and I also needed gas. Here's what I this trip:

I did 2 transactions this time. First I ran into get as many Glade Plug-Ins I could find. They are $4.49 each and they give back a $4.00 catalina. I have lots of B1G1 free coupons!! I only found 2....but that's a $3.16 profit for each "set" of 2 that I buy.

OOP = $4.84 and $8.00 back in catalinas. I even took them to the car!

On transaction # 2 I used coupons and the $8.00 from above. OOP = $21.52

Total out of pocket for the trips was 26.36 but I'll get $5.00 back for the Minute Maids juice boxes with the rebate I told you about here. So, my overall OOP was really only $21.36 for all those groceries. And the pumpkins where $7.76 of that total ($3.88 each)!

Then, I got gas on the way out. I had finally reached the $100 mark for the Fuel Reward discount. E-85 was running $1.91 - $.10 discount = $1.81 a gallon. Wow! It only cost me $38.46 to fill up an empty Tahoe. I didn't think I'd see these day again! If I weren't so eco-friendly, I'd drive around just because I can afford to again. :)

Saturday, October 25, 2008

I just wanted to start off by saying.....this is my 300th post!! Yippee!!

Now, back to business! Check out this super cute Janie and Jack sweater I got this week at Goodwill. I was there shopping for "eBay treasures" and dug it out of the $.99 bin. When shopping for eBay I just do a quick scan.

I check: Brand Name, Condition and Price.

I didn't even see the size until I got home. It's a perfect fit for my son and it's in excellent condition/like new. I also scored him (on my second Goodwill trip this week....I only went 2 times) some Gymboree khaki shorts and a pair Children's Place footed snowman PJ's. Both also out of the $.99 bin. But.....you have to be willing to look and dig, dig, dig!!

Shopping at Goodwill has pretty gotten easy for me. I go in for eBay, and anything I find for us is just an added bonus. My poor daughter didn't get anything this week. But that's how Goodwill works. It's a treasure hunt and you can't go in looking for something specific. I usually only spend about an hour in the store, and can come out with 10-20 things. Once I'm home, I rescan items, sort to wash, etc. That's when I look at sizes and "pull things" for the kids.

If you're in the Dallas area, Goodwill is having a BIG SALE today (Saturday). 50% off clothes and Christmas and 75% off Halloween. Warning!!! These sales are crazy busy, so go without kids if you can. I've already been twice this week, so I'll pass on today's sale. :)

$5/$30 CVS coupon that I got in the mail$2.00/2 CVS Brand Candies from the magic coupon machine as I walked in the door!!!$2.00 Pull-Ups cpn from newspaper$.50 Huggies wipes cpn from newspaper$3/3 Johnson cpn from newspaper$6.58 in ECB from my first CVS tripTotal OOP = $18.69 Whoa!!!!! Crazy, huh? Didn't see that coming did you? And, I got back $11.69 in ECB. But, I do get $1 back from Caregivers Marketplace for the Pull-Ups. So, we'll say $17.69.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Before I ran into Kroger yesterday, I stopped into to the Kid to Kid next door. It's a children's consignment shop, my daughter calls them "hand stores". I guess I always call it the second hand store. Anyway, here's what I got for $15.48.

Here's what everything cost after using my full frequent shopper card. That gave me 20% off.

Not too shabby!! It's just now starting to get cool (at night) here so I'm just now having to start filling in my daughter's wardrobe. My son is pretty much set. I got him lots of stuff this last spring at the end of winter season sale's. My daughter is getting a bit harder to guess on these days, size wise, so I didn't end up with quite as much for her.

I needed to few staples yesterday (milk, bread, fruit, coffee, syrup) and decided to go ahead and stock up on sale items. I think I did pretty good, considering there were a couple of impulse items (Dr. Pepper, sour cream, rice, Steam & Mash) thrown in. My total OOP was only $29.56. Yippee!

After I got my list ready I had some inspiration from Maryanne over at My Penny Pile. She does an awesome job covering what's free and super cheap at Kroger each week. This trip I saved $44.62 and earned $54 towards the Fuel Rewards discount.

Today the coupons section has 2 great rebates. The first is for Theraflu, it's for up to $6.99 and will a money maker with the $2 coupon. And, along the same lines Excedrine has a rebate for the 20ct Express Gels. It's also up to $6.99 and will be a money maker with the $2.00 coupon. I really like rebates!!

Speaking of rebates, my $10 Kellogg's Fuel For School rebate arrived last week, so be on the lookout for yours.

There is a sweeps for free groceries for a year from Eckrich (as in sausage), click here to enter. You can enter daily until January 29, 2009.

Win a trip to Hawaii for the 2009 All-Star Game from Santa Fe Salsa. Enter to win here.

Parent's magazine has a toy giveaway each month. Enter the drawing here. The current giveaway ends today, and a new one starts tomorrow (I think!!).

And my favorite sweeps site.....Good Housekeeping! Click here and here to check them out and enter. There are some fun new sweeps to enter!!

I had this trip planned to zero OOP, but the magic coupon machine threw me off with the Colgate Max Burst coupon. I could have wasted a dollar on a useless filler, but opted to pay $.97 out of pocket and keep $2 in ECB. With the $4 in ECB is got back today, I have $6 for next week. And I still have my $5/$30 CVS coupon I got here (in the mail).

Between this candy and all the candy I got here at Walgreens, I'm set as far as my daughter's pre-school Halloween party goes. I'll need just a bit more and I'm set for Halloween night as well. Shopping at drugstores ROCKS!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I must be in bizarro world, since I'm so excited about my Walgreens trip and haven't even been to CVS yet. I've totally got the hang of Walgreens and all my rebates are looking good. Here's what I got this week:

$.14 paid OOP. Over both trips I paid $2.43 cash OOP and I'll get back $5.50 ($5 plus 10% bonus) in rebates for the chocolate and the Arm & Hammer. That's an overall profit of $3.07!!

My new game plan with Walgreens is that I use my gift card to purchase Register Rewards items. The gift card is loaded with $$ from the previous months rebates. I do these RR transactions in the next town over since their registers allow me to receive RR if I use coupons. Then I use the RR to purchase rebate items. I usually do those transactions here in Wylie. And, like I said above all my rebates I've entered so far for the month have been approved. Yippee!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I found a great rebate hidden in our new copy of Sleeping Beauty. It's for $5 back if you purchase Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell, Wall-E OR Narnia AND 2 Minute Maid products. Should be a good deal with the Minute Maid coupons that have been issued recently....maybe a money maker? I mean as far is the juice is concerned. I'll consider the movie "free" anyway since I bought it with a Circuit City gift card. :)

I headed to Kroger yesterday, we needed some groceries very badly. It had been 2 weeks since I'd grocery shopped! I also had that $4 Catalina from last time I shopped that was expiring. Here's everything I got for $26.37. Not too bad!!

Here's my big "trip highlight", I ran into the Danon man while I was picking up my Activa. He was so nice!! He gave me 4 $1.00 "peelies" and about 10 $.50 paper coupons. Yippee! For once I was in the right place at the right time. :)

I paid $1.30 cash OOP. I still have money on my GC but am worried that my rebate won't work if I use it. Anyway, I'll get back $2.20 ($1.00 each plus 10% bonus) for the Scrubbing Bubbles, through the Walgreens Rebate program. I'm still no Walgreens expert, but I'm happy with my week. Yay Wags!!

Cookies!!!!!!! The kids and I are trying to get in the fall spirit. Sometimes it takes work here in North Texas when it's still in the 80's in October. So we made "fall" cookies. I've lost the picture of ours.....they were so cute! We made sugar cookies, frosted them white (it was what I had on hand, haha) and the kids covered them with orange and black sprinkles.

We used Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and frosting from my stock pile. The cookie mix I got for free (with a good sale and coupon at Kroger) and the frosting, I'll admit, is from the spring. I got it back when it was like $.19 at Walmart. I already had Halloween sprinkles in the cabinet. We used 1 stick of butter ($.55) and one egg ($.08), so my total cost was $.82. But, we didn't even need to step out the door!!

I should get back $2.20 for the candles. $1.00 for each Glade candle plus 10% bonus, making this trip profitable (5 cents profit), but it doesn't look like Walgreens is accepting the candles for rebate. I've already put the receipt in last night. Any experienced Wags shoppers out there? Is it because I paid with the gift card? Does Walgreens just not like me?

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

And a reminder......are you saving your Box Tops 4 Education? Even if you don't have kids, you could still drop them off at a local school. I'd rather my local schools get a little extra money that way, instead of raising my taxes!! :)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The CVS coupons came today. There is a $5/$30 for October, $4/$20 for November, and a $3/$15 for December. Very exciting!!!!

I also got this nice little spread from Target yesterday. I noticed that it was addressed to my hubby. I was always the primary on our registries. But, hubby almost always paid when we shopped at Target weekly (ages ago), so as far a clue to about Target's mailing lists, this one seems to be connected to actually shopping there, or maybe lack there of in our case. :)

Total OOP $2.78 and I got back $10 in ECB. $8.00 for the razor blades and $2.00 for my summer spending. Since I got back $10 in ECB and used $5, that's a $5 ECB profit (really $3 if you don't count the summer spending). Minus the cash I spent, total profit was $2.22 (or just $.22).

I should have been charged $2.29 for the Vitamin Water and gotten $2.29 in ECB back for it. So, in this case I shouldn't have been able to use the $3/$15 coupon (my total was too low). But since I still have a profit, the manager accepted my coupon and over $2 for Vitamin Water is crazy anyway, I'll let it go. I guess I can try the water again later this week and ask if the deal is working first. :)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Good morning. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! Here's my random list of fun stuff:

"To show our appreciation for the six AMBYs, Boppy would like to give away 6 Chicco Cortina Discovery Strollers for the Month of October 2008. Winners will be selected in a random drawing." Enter the stoller drawing HERE.

Anyone actually like to cook?? Sumbit your original recipe using a Jose Ole product here at Jose Ole for a chance to win a $20,000 dream kitchen makeover.

Over at the Woman's Day giveaway page they have 37 different sweeps and contests going on. 37 different sweeps?? That should keep you busy for a minute or two.

Have you checked out my coupon bar lately? This month isn't super exciting but there are still a few good coupons! My favorites are the Pillsbury $.35 off Cresent Rolls and Sweet Rolls, they can be tripled at Kroger and Alberstons. The $.50 off Grands Biscuits, isn't too shabby since it can be doubled. I also printed the $.75 off Betty Crocker cookie dough...a great deal if you find it on sale for $1.00.

Weekends are usually a day of "work" for me since my hubby is usually at work too. I'm used to the schedule and it works perfect for us! Even more so now that I've been blessed with the oppourtunity to stay at home. I love having him home weekdays since we can usually find fun things to do with the kids on the cheap during the week. We'll be hitting the State Fair on Wednesday for $4, click here to see how. :)

Saturday, October 4, 2008

What do you think of surveys? I definitely don't think they are the road to riches, but they are fun! And, you can make a few extra bucks or try a new product!!

One of the first places I signed up a few months back was Survey Spot. Since that time I have received $22 in "cash", a cake mix with frosting to try and a handheld electronic device valued at over $250 to try and keep!!!

I will admit that I'm picky about which surveys I fill out. I tend to pick $$ only surveys if available. Some sites pay out only in points that you can convert to cash and gift cards. In that case I look for high point surveys. I have also found that setting up a new e-mail account for surveys only really helped me out. This way, during the evenings or nap time if I have a few moments, all my available surveys are in one spot and I'm not sorting through my inbox looking for them.

Another fun and easy way to make a little money is and MyPoints . I have about $15 with Inbox Dollars right now, you need $25 to cash out. And with MyPoints I have about 3500 points which is already enough for a $25 gift card. MyPoints includes places like CVS, Pottery Barn, Chili's, etc....!

Do you remember my old coupon organization system? Well, I needed an upgrade! I bought a new binder here and spent a few weeks searching for baseball sleeves. I finally gave up and went to a baseball card store (crazy idea, huh?). I was hoping to find some at Michael's or Hobby Lobby so I could use a coupon.

I ended up with 100 sheets and paid about $17. Yikes!! I wasn't sure what I would need. I may keep the spares for replacements as these wear out. I also still need dividers, but I'm cheap! So, I'm hoping to run across some here at the house or somewhere on sale super cheap.

The front part zips open by itself and has my circulars filed away. It's perfect for holding the current ad and monthly deals (CVS/Walgreens). I like that I can also access the ads once I'm inside the binder. That's what's shown in the picture.

Just inside, I have scissors, paper clips, a pen, paper, etc.... I don't really need those "on the go", but it makes coupon time at the house super quick. I'm not having to collect my supplies and put them away when I'm done.

Check out those shiny pages full of coupons. Ahhhh.....! I can put coupons away faster and find them in about 5 seconds flat. I haven't decided on the best way to pull expired coupons....I guess I'll give it a few weeks and it will work itself out, I'm sure.

Before, I would pull coupons that I might use at the store and have to put them back if I didn't. For example, if I wanted to get to the store and look at prices and decide what chicken to get. With the new system, I just make a note on the list and pull the coupon once I decide. It's so neat and clean.

In the very back I have a few plastic sleeves with my store envelopes in them. In here I keep coupons for that store only, my ECB, my Walgreens gift card, all the Target coupons, etc.

The very last picture is my Restaurant/Dept. Store coupon book. I used a free (cheap) photo album. They sell these everywhere as a "brag book" for like $1. I started stores on one side and restaurants on the other and they almost meet in the middle. This way, I can keep this in purse and not have to lug the HUGE binder out with the hubby if we're eating out or looking for shoes. :)

I will admit, it took me HOURS to move over into the binder but it was SO worth it! How do you keep your coupons organized????

They also still have Benefiber, Goodnights, Nicorette, Gain, Jergens and Pledge samples right here. I hope you are requesting samples and using them! I love getting something fun in the mail (almost) everyday and I love trying new products. It's a win/win!!

Wylie, Texas Resources

Cash/Points For Reading eMails, Surveys & Shopping

Rebates For Online Shopping

About Me

I'm a married, stay-at-home mom to two kiddos in grade school. I love to save money as much as I like to make it! Coupons, thrift stores? Lead the way!
But wait....there's more! I have a BBA from University of Oklahoma and I was a banker and an accountant before I became a domestic goddess!

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